


Combined Temperaments

by fragilecapricornpanic



Series: 4 + 6 + 7 [11]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Abusive Reginald Hargreeves, Angst, Angst and Humor, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves Friendship, Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Canon Compliant, Everyone Needs A Hug, Extra-Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Sibling Vanya Hargreeves, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, One Shot, One Shot Collection, POV Alternating, Pre-Canon, Reginald Hargreeves Bashing, Soft Vanya Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:02:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27295369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fragilecapricornpanic/pseuds/fragilecapricornpanic
Summary: “I used to use black marker as eyeliner when we were kids, but I nearly went blind once and I learnt my lesson.” That was one of the most tame instances of Klaus’ oversharing that Vanya had ever witnessed. “Was that why dad banned Sharpies?!” Vanya accidentally spoke loudly, mind-blown by this information. She sunk further into her seat, bashful about drawing unwanted attention to them. “Nope, but that was because of me too.” Klaus mischievously admitted, which left Vanya unsure if she wanted to know the story behind that. He sniffed them, didn’t he? Of course he did.(And angst)
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: 4 + 6 + 7 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955932
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	Combined Temperaments

**Author's Note:**

> Like the summary said there are angsty sections of this, but lots of humor and fluff too :)
> 
> These are written from their POVs so their thoughts are subjective obvs

“Can we go see Vanya?” Ben wearily begged, following Klaus around like a seeing-eye dog. They hadn’t seen their sister in a fairly long time. Ben had been going on his own less and less, since it was plain depressing to not be able to talk to her. Or for her to even know he was there. Having your sister look right through you felt like a violent punch in the gut.

By the look on his brother’s face, Ben assumed the answer was going to be a harsh no. “How many times do I need to go through this with you?!” Klaus whisperingly lashed out, glancing around to check if people were looking. “There is no _we!_ I am me, and you are you. We are two separate people, you just happen to be dead. We do not share a fucking personhood!” Klaus bitterly ranted, his volume growing louder with each word. People were definitely shooting him alarmed stares now. Truthfully, Klaus received those kinds of stares most of the time anyway.

“Did you really have to bring me being dead into it?” Ben muttered, hating the way his brother acted when he needed a hit. To be honest, Ben hated how he acted all of the time - but it was especially worsened on these occasions. Why did he always have to take it out on Ben? Couldn’t he get some friends to be an asshole to instead?

“You bring it up all the time! We can’t have a single conversation without you being like waaah I’m _dead._ ” his brother mockingly pretended to wipe away tears, but just spread around the eyeliner he was in the process of sweating off. Ben pursed his lips so he wouldn’t smirk. Snickering at Klaus’ expense would cause an even worse fight than what they were currently having.

That comment was a gross exaggeration. “That’s not true, and even if it were - it would be fair for me to do that.” Ben coldly responded, astounded that Klaus felt it acceptable to say that. How much of him being a dick was his personality, and how much was his addiction? Ben didn’t know anymore. As long as Klaus was determined to destroy himself and everyone around him, Ben would never find out. “Being dead is hard. It’s even harder when I have to watch y-“

“I can’t have this talk right now, Ben!” Klaus snapped, loud enough for the pawnbroker to flinch. “I can’t do this right now. I can’t. I can’t.” his brother mumbled in a quieter volume, receiving his money from the cashier. “I’m practicing my monologue for my one man show.” Klaus lied to the pawnbroker, like anyone in here cared why he was talking to himself. Half the clientele probably talked to themselves. It was a goddamn pawnshop.

Ben missed Vanya... “We can never have this talk, because you’re always too high or not high enough. Like right now.” It was quite amusing how people were looking at Klaus as they began to exit, but Ben was too fed up to acknowledge that with laughter. In response to Ben’s remark, his brother paused walking to tensely press at his eyes. The sudden halt made Ben phase straight through him. Ugh, that always felt weird. Some warning would’ve been nice.

“ _Please_ , Ben. Later.” Klaus tremblingly pleaded, in a way that anyone would perceive as pathetic. There would be no later. By later, Klaus would be too high to care. “I don’t really have much choice, do I? Since I’m completely reliant on you.” Ben seethed, wishing the person he was dependent on wasn’t a junkie. His brother shakily breathed out, struggling to blink back tears. It was tough for Ben not to make a snide comment about how much of a snivelling mess he was. The inherent explosive arguing it would cause just wasn’t worth it. How many rock bottoms could one man have? Surely this must be some kind of world record.

Holy shit... Vanya was heading right towards their direction. Was Ben a psychic too? “Vanya...” Ben murmured with confusion, wondering what the hell she was doing around here. “I just said I’m not having this goddamn tal-“ his brother stopped his stressed raving when he also saw their sister ambling by. “She’s not dead is she?” Klaus whispered, as though Ben would be able to answer that.

Facing his brother, Ben sent him an irritated glare. “You’re The Seance, not me!” She didn’t look dead, but Ben knew that neither did he. It was unlikely she was a ghost, for multiple reasons. Namely that other ghosts were yet to appear. Ben sauntered over to her to see if she could see him. An awful, horrible, tiny part of him kind of wanted her to... even though that would mean she was dead too. “She’s not dead.” Ben called over to Klaus, who sighed with relief. It still stung to not be seen.

It finally happened. Vanya stopped walking to nervously smile at her brother, regretting moving in above a pawn shop. When she’d taken the apartment, she’d gathered this would happen one day. The place was just too suited to her needs to turn it down based on Klaus alone. “You have...” Vanya timidly pointed around her own eyes, assuming he didn’t intend to look like a panda. Though it wouldn’t be that surprising if he had. He’d done stranger things.

“Eyes?” Klaus replied with genuine uncertainty, which made Vanya chuckle. “No... well, yeah.” she shrugged, since technically that was the case too. “I mean that you look like a panda.” she lightly informed him, reaching into her purse to retrieve a pack of Kleenex. “Oh, I do? If only I’d had someone here to let me know that.” her brother hissed, scowling at the space in front of her. Not knowing how to respond to that, she just chose not to. Every time they crossed paths, Vanya ended up needing a higher dose of her medication to counteract his volatility.

Passing over the tissues, Vanya made sure to keep her purse away from Klaus - despite him literally just leaving a pawnshop. He was clearly in withdrawal. Hearing him whispering, Vanya hoped he was actually talking to a dead person for once rather than himself. The conversation didn’t seem all that civil. “Can we hang out later, when I’m feeling better?” her brother bizarrely requested, even though he didn’t sound remotely fond of his own idea. It was killing Vanya not to say _absolutely not_ , but she was still too committed to being Number Seven. Even after all these years. “I’d like that.” she fibbed, hoping he’d get sidetracked by a drug binge.

—

“Don’t ever say I don’t do shit for you.” Klaus muttered to Ben as they made their way to the diner they’d agreed to meet at. “Am I supposed to be grateful that you humor me twice a year?” Ben rhetorically questioned, longing to be able to punch his brother square in the jaw. He couldn’t blame Vanya for wanting to meet in public. Being alone with Klaus was like a prison sentence. In hell. Maybe Ben was slightly bitter...

Entering the diner, both brothers tried to spot their tiny sister. “Yeah, actually. You are.” Klaus whispered, completely meaning what he was saying. A sucker punch. With Luther’s strength. That’s what Ben would like to do to Klaus. His brother had remorsefully apologised for earlier, but Ben was just feeling particularly petty today. It was hard to say if Klaus was more insufferable when he was high as a kite, or when he was jonesing. Neither options were ideal for Ben. At least he was kind of chaotically entertaining like this.

“It’s like you think with your dick!” Ben hissed at Klaus when he got distracted ogling a guy, who frankly seemed way too good for him. “Well at least _my_ dick’s still alive!” Klaus childishly taunted, forgetting to keep his voice down. The secondhand embarrassment was unbearable, it felt almost painful. Noticing Vanya, Ben stormed over to her to try and escape the cringing. Thank god Klaus hadn’t said that in front of their sister, she would’ve probably choked on her food. It sounded like somebody else had actually done that, which was a valid reaction.

Trying not to sigh when she saw Klaus approaching, Vanya forced a welcoming smile. She didn’t think he’d show up. Already she was on edge, bracing herself for his asinine blabbering. He was still whispering to himself, so Vanya figured it hadn’t been to a dead person earlier. “I thought you were dead back there.” Klaus blurted as soon as he sat down, which was hard not to take offence at - considering how monstrous he’d always described ghosts as being.

Things were off to a great start. “Gee, thanks...” Vanya dryly replied, hoping that wasn’t how other people saw her too. The basket of fries was casually snatched from her hand by Klaus. What must it be like to care so little? She was pretty damn jealous. Vanya cared far too much. They needed to combine their temperaments, maybe then they could form one somewhat functioning human.

“Not that you look dead. You look hot, but not in an Allison and Luther way. Just platonic hotness... and _alive._ What I’m saying is that you look alive.” her brother amusedly drawled, reluctantly handing the fries back as if someone had just scolded him for stealing them. Vanya diffidently nodded, not knowing how to verbally break down what he’d said. “The grossest ghost I ever met looked just as alive as us though. Like, physically sickening to look at. He was mentally scarring... but not in a scary way, just _fuuugly._ ” Klaus gave his passionate description, then impishly grinned. Though not to her. To the empty seat to her side. That was nice and disturbing.

“Grow up.” Ben groaned, wishing he could kick Klaus as well as punch him. Kick him right in his alive dick. “Don’t look at me, look at her. You’re freaking her out!” Ben nagged, gesturing towards Vanya’s wide eyes. Their brother continued to stare at Ben, solely because he’d been told not to. If anything he just purposefully intensified his staring. This had been a terrible idea, Ben had to confess. Those fries looked good... how dare Klaus be able to eat. Ben deserved them more.

This was precisely why Vanya made sure she was maximumly medicated before she came here. “Seen Diego recently?” she said the very first thing to pop into her brain, desperate for Klaus to stop whatever the hell he was doing. It was hard to tell if it was the drugs or if it was just him being himself. “Yep, and he threw a shit load of knives at me.” Klaus calmly declared, as if that was a normal brotherly experience. “Oh. That’s... nice.” she awkwardly murmured, once again unsure how to even respond to that. “It really isn’t.” Klaus wheezed, giving her a mystified squint. That was fair. It wasn’t nice. Why did she even say that? God, she just got more incapable of conversing as the years went on. It was like a progressive disease.

“You’re not a panda anymore...” Vanya shyly tried to move the chatter on from her stupid comment, politely passing the fries back over to Klaus. She was attempting not to laugh at how longingly he was looking at them.

“I used to use black marker as eyeliner when we were kids, but I nearly went blind once and I learnt my lesson.” That was one of the most tame instances of Klaus’ oversharing that Vanya had ever witnessed. “Was that why dad banned Sharpies?!” Vanya accidentally spoke quite loudly, mind-blown by this information. She sunk further into her seat, bashful about drawing unwanted attention to them. “Nope, but that was because of me too.” Klaus mischievously admitted, which left Vanya unsure if she wanted to know the story behind that. He sniffed them, didn’t he? Of course he did.

Thinking about black markers just made Vanya recall the day her siblings had been given their tattoos... glancing across to her brother’s, she still felt left out. Despite knowing how traumatic it had been for them all. “Did it hurt?” she asked without making the conscious decision to. Obviously it hurt, what would possess her to even wonder? This was why all of her family loathed her. In fact, this was why everyone hated her - that contempt wasn’t contained just within her family. Hopefully Klaus was too out of it to later remember this disaster of a conversation.

“When I fell from heaven?” Klaus teased, following her gaze down to the faded umbrella. He forgot it was there most of the time. He’d injected through it a few times, purely to get petty vengeance on their dad. Ben had insisted it wasn’t funny, but he was wrong. It was hilarious. “Yeah, but all the emotional pain hurt so much worse.” Klaus darkly joked, begrudgingly sliding the last fries over to Vanya when Ben whined at him. His brother didn’t even have a stomach, he was just being spitefully sanctimonious. “I know your little games.” Klaus mouthed to Ben, scornfully kicking through his ghostly legs. Vanya leaned closer, looking over her shoulder like they were conspiring to commit homicide. Oh, hopefully she wanted to murder dad! That would be great! None of the others were ever up for that plot.

“Can you remember all that stuff?” his sister whispered with morbid fascination, sounding like she couldn’t. That must be amazing. Sign Klaus up!

“I try real hard not to.” Klaus playfully answered, hoping Vanya would get the clear message that he didn’t want to discuss their soul-destroying childhoods. Even skirting around the topic made him feel panicked. He was already in a shitty mindset, this wasn’t going to help matters. Why the hell did he let Ben talk him into this meeting? This was why listening to Ben was only a biannual occasion.

If even Klaus could recall more details than her, what did that say about Vanya? He’d been intoxicated since they were kids, she hadn’t. Her brother evidently wasn’t fond of this subject, which was understandable. “Sorry. I just think about it sometimes... how I don’t remember a lot of stuff.” It was like some of her formative memories were encapsulated in an impenetrable prison. Unable to be accessed. “I can’t even remember when we first met mom.” she mumbled thoughtfully, uncertain why she was using her most unstable family member as an unpaid therapist.

“Don’t tell Diego that, he’ll throw the knives at you instead.” her brother giggled nervously, blatantly wanting to stop talking about when they were kids. Was their father really as evil as Numbers Two to Six claimed? He was certainly no angel, but that didn’t necessarily make him a monster. Their mom wasn’t evil, and she was his creation. Why couldn’t Vanya remember chunks of her own life? Yes, it was a coping mechanism - but how intense was the thing she was clearly trying to cope with? Thankfully Vanya never had to kill anyone like the others did, she didn’t have to have that on her conscience. But her brain was clearly shielding something significant from her. Something so consequential that it had locked away parts of herself entirely.

Everything Vanya _did_ remember was bleak and horrible, so it was alarming to consider how dark the things she couldn’t recollect must be. Perhaps she should properly start writing things down, like her therapist had suggested years ago. It couldn’t be healthy to just ignore something that had clearly defined her mind so much. “Do you ever wonder...” Vanya decided not to finish her sentence when she noticed how agitatedly worked up her brother seemed. She shouldn’t have brought traumatic things up. What was she thinking? Sometimes she forgot Klaus had emotions, since he took nothing seriously.

“All day, every day. Those are called _thoughts._ ” Klaus teasingly pointed towards her steadily wandering mind. A shining example of his inability to be profound. “Gotta go, busy busy.” her brother shot up from his seat, beckoning for someone to join him - though Vanya surmised that person wasn’t her. Why did she have to reopen old wounds? Maybe some of her memories were locked away for good reason. It felt unnerving to not even try to address her childhood though. At least if she finally started to write things down, she couldn’t trigger someone’s fight or flight... as she’d clearly just done. Words on paper can’t spiral into a panic attack.

Normally it was Klaus making Vanya anxious, but the shoe was on the other foot now. She felt too guilty to even say anything, regardless of how much she wished to apologise. “Can I have some cash for a cab? I need a cab.” he made his usual plea for money, leaving Vanya wondering why he bothers to come up with excuses. Especially to her. She didn’t have the backbone to say no. Pathetically, Vanya would probably cut out the middle man and buy him the drugs herself if he told her to. She apologetically nodded and handed Klaus fifteen dollars, but he just continued to expectingly stare at her wallet. “It’s a loooong journey...” This was why Diego threw those knives, wasn’t it?

**Author's Note:**

> FML IT HAPPENED AGAIN. This was also written before season 2 and the bit where Klaus calls Ben the grossest ghost was too similar to the scene in season 2 in Allison’s kitchen so I had to change it a little lmfaooo
> 
> Also it’s actually canon that Vanya lived above the pawn shop that Klaus sold Reginald’s box thingy in, which I think is hilarious


End file.
